In order to offer customers a wide selection of items readily available for delivery, a merchant (whether engaging in electronic or conventional “brick and mortar” commerce) may hold various quantities of such items within one or more inventory facilities. Keeping items in inventory may serve to buffer variations in customer demand, or in a manufacturer or distributor's ability to supply various items. For example, different items offered for sale by the merchant may have different manufacturer or vendor lead times. Holding quantities of such items in inventory may enable the merchant to offer a more consistent availability of these items to customers.
As part of its operations, a merchant will generally attempt to ensure that its inventory on hand is sufficient to cover expected customer order volumes for a particular period of time. Typically, these techniques focus on making sure that there is enough inventory on hand to meet projected demand. However, storing inventory is not without expenses. For example, providing and maintaining a physical facility in which to store the inventory presents recurring infrastructure costs directly attributable to the inventory items stored in the facility. Further, while items are in storage awaiting sale, debt or capital costs associated with the items may accumulate. Items being held in inventory may also depreciate, become obsolete, expire or spoil (e.g., in the case of perishable items), become damaged, etc.
When these various types of inventory holding costs are taken into account, storing too much inventory can present financial concerns. To address these concerns, certain merchants employ so-called “just-in-time” (JIT) strategies to inventory management and purchasing. These types of strategies, when properly implemented, attempt to ensure that the merchant purchases and stocks just the right amount of inventory at the right time to satisfy demand, thus minimizing associated costs.
While the specification is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the appended claims to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the specification.